Pets, large and small, were brought to the Church of the Holy Mount, sponsored by the Episcopal Church of Lincoln County, in Ruidoso Saturday to be blessed by Rev. Judy Burgess.

Rev. Burgess said the blessing of the animals has been an annual ritual for several years. Burgess blessed each animal individually and was very comfortable with the animals as they were with her.

“We try to have the blessing of the pets annually as close as possible to the Feast of St. Francis,” Burgess said.

With so many dogs in one place within proximity to one another, it was surprising how well-behaved they were. It was as if they knew they were there for a special occasion which required their best behavior.

There were also two horses, Blue and April, brought by Seth and Rev. Judy Burgess and last but not least, one cat, Chloe, owned by John and Micki Harast, who was also well-behaved in spite of the fact that she was one cat outnumbered by many dogs.

Micki Harast said Chloe was a rescue and she is about seven or eight years old. “She is a diva,” Harast laughingly said. Chloe is a beautiful blue-gray cat with huge blue eyes and she most likely was very grateful to her owners that she was safe in a cage until it was time for her to be blessed.

Harast said the animal shelter in Ruidoso is excellent. “All our animals have come from shelters,” Harast said, “there is a lot of caring for animals here in Ruidoso. The veternarians here are very supportive of the shelters. We have two dog parks here, one for large dogs and one for small dogs which are maintained by the city. There are also several very nice trails for walking dogs.”

Churches around the world celebrate the blessing of the animals which St. Francis of Assisi started about 800 years ago.

As well as Christians, many Jewish congregations also schedule blessings of the animals after the High Holy Days. Rev Jon Sweeney, author of “The St. Francis Prayer Book” said “In both the Christian ceremonies and in Jewish ceremonies, the message is the same: take care of them as you would take care of yourself. Show gratitude; they are gifts from God.”